


The Sound of Laughter

by m0rkl



Category: D.Gray-man
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-26
Updated: 2017-01-26
Packaged: 2018-09-20 00:34:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 790
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9467498
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/m0rkl/pseuds/m0rkl
Summary: Red didn't understand why Mana laughter like that.Allen doesn't understand why he laughs like this either





	

**Author's Note:**

> I'unno I just wanted to write something about panic laughter because thats a thing I do ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

             When Red first started traveling with Mana, he didn’t understand the man at all. He would say strange things laugh at things that weren’t funny. But all adults were weird and Red knew that. Mana was just a different sort of weird. It wasn’t necessarily a bad sort of weird. Red had certainly encountered that before, but Mana was just... different. The fact that he took in an angry little street rat that everyone else despised was enough to set him apart from the rest. Mana Walker was a strange man, but that was about the only thing he could figure out about the clown.

            Why did he smile like that all the time? Why couldn’t he cry? Why didn’t he cast Red away like everyone else? There was a thousand different questions Red had, but he stayed silent. Somewhere inside him he was afraid that asking might bring an end to it. But some, his anger got the better of him.

            “Why the fuck are you laughing?!” Red heaved, his heart pounding. The clown was slumped against the alley wall, his lip bleeding and eye beginning to swell. He looked pathetic, understandably so, seeing as they had just gotten kicked out of the inn they were planning on staying at. But what concerned Red the most was that Mana was giggling, short little sounds far from the man’s usual rich bellowing laughter. “Stop it! It isn’t funny it’s cold and you’re going to freeze!”

            “If I’m going to freeze, hehe. Then you’re going to freeze first!” He kept laughing, covering his mouth with a gloved hand.

            “Idiot...” Grumbled Red as he moved to sit against the wall next to Mana. Eventually, the man’s laughter died down and he was left with his head hanging downward, staring into his hands. “What’re we gonna do now?” Red asked. The sun was already setting and the sky was a burnt orange color. It was fall, so the air was crisp during the day, but biting when it set.

            “I don’t know.”

            “Brilliant.” The boy deadpanned. Mana laughed again, but it was short and tired sounding. Not like earlier.

            “Oh, Allen. I’m glad we’re friends again” He said, sounding nostalgic. Red stayed silent. If Mana was going to think he was the dog, it was fine. No one had ever treated him this kindly before. It only made sense that the one person who did was just a confused clown who laughed at all the wrong times.

            After a while, he grew accustom to Mana’s out of place laughter. Somewhere along the line it became normal to him and he forgot why he questioned it. Mana was strange. That’s just how he was. It wasn’t until Red was older that he remembered. He was Allen now. Allen Walker, apprentice to the bastard Cross Marian. He wasn’t Red anymore and there was no strange clown with a painted smile to drag him around.

            Allen stumbled back against the stone wall, feeling the warmth of the day soak into his back. A shadow passed over him. His arm throbbed painfully, but some how he didn’t mind. It was a good kind of pain. The kind that let him know he had done something. The image of the girl’s gentle face twisting and contorting as her skin split apart flashed through his head. The chained soul above her was an older woman screaming, begging for salvation. It wasn’t the first time he had seen an akuma soul, but it was the first time he had been left to fight entirely on his own.

            “Not dead yet, huh?” Cross snorted. Allen copied the sound, letting a short sound through his nose. Then something bubbled up from his chest. A laugh forced its was out, making his stomach muscles contract. It started like he was chocking and then it was giggling. Full on laughter burst from his chest and clawed its way up his throat. His master cocked an eyebrow but otherwise did nothing.

            Allen laughed uncontrollably, the sound coming out in harsh breath. It wasn’t funny. There was nothing to laugh at, but he couldn’t stop. Panicked giggles escaped his throat as he clutched his chest. He didn’t want to laugh, but like any other time, he couldn’t stop it from happening. He felt hollow, like the only thing inside him were these airy meaningless sounds, husks of actual laughter. Tears streamed down his cheeks and his core burned, but he didn’t stop laughing. It hurt.

            Allen didn’t understand. He never understood why Mana’s laughter and he didn’t understand his own. But it was a piece of Mana that stayed with him, like the painted smile and grotesque scar on his face. Maybe some day he’d understand.


End file.
